"It’s official: Research has found that libraries make everything better."
Far from an earthshaking study in its breadth and depth, but it's good to see and hopefully it will drive some greater awareness and investment.
Science has backed up what many of us have long been saying: the library rocks. A study from the New York Public Library surveyed 1,974 users on how the library makes them feel and how it affects their lives, and the results are overwhelmingly positive.
The researchers' analysis (which used positive psychology's PERMA model, if that means anything to you) discovered that libraries are good for people, their well-being, and their communities. Not only that, but the positive societal impacts are more pronounced in lower-income communities, even more reason to make sure we're funding and supporting libraries. Don't let the ghosts of Reagan and Thatcher tell you otherwise, government can help people!
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Are libraries digitizing microfiche archives?
I am rewatching the Americans on Hulu and there is a scene with a character looking at microfiche of old newspapers. That set me wondering how much of library's microfiche collections had been digitized. That led me to this interesting subreddit discussion from a year ago.
OP's Question: Microfilm collection
I was wondering how libraries are dealing with their old newspaper microfilm collections. How are people persevering the information as the film breaks down? Did your library decide to replace with new copies, find a newspaper database, or digitize the collection? If you digitize was it done in-house or outsourced? Thanks
Top reply:
Microfiche/film has a bonkers long lifespan. Like, pushing 500 years. So, to answer your question, we're not. It's staying where it is because it's one of the most stable formats out there.
A reply in response to concern over acetate microfiche breaking down:
As acetate microfilm breaks down, most institutions that are committed to maintaining their collections will either use their own master reels to produce new, polyester film copies, or they'll order new, polyester film copies from their supplier. The average lifespan of polyester film is approximately 500 years (true longevity unknown, as it hasn't been 500 years since the advent of polyester film yet), and it doesn't degrade with the same volatility as acetate (no vinegar syndrome! yay!).
My workplace, where I manage our microfilm collection, is slowly digitizing on an ad hoc basis. We received funding specifically for a ribbon film scanner so that I can fulfill research requests by scanning entire reels. For legacy newspaper collections, I imagine it is more responsible to check to see what other extant copies exist, and whether they have been digitized as part of NDNP or a similar project. For cost-effectiveness, knowing what I do about the availability and integrity of existing microfilm scanners in most libraries, I imagine any digitization would have to be outsourced.
The conversation largely makes it sound like libraries are moving to digitize them for years prior to digital archiving existing, but it is not universal and relies on funding and access to equipment, etc.
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New York Public Library researchers find that up to 75% of books published before 1964 may be in the public domain
... According to Greg Cram, associate general counsel and director of information policy at NYPL, an initial overview of books published in that period shows that around 65 to 75 percent of rights holders opted not to renew their copyrights.
"That's sort of a staggering figure," Cram told Motherboard. "That's 25 to 35 percent of books that were renewed, while the rest were not. That's interesting for me as we think about copyright policy going forward."
Cram warns that since the project is still ongoing, the data may ultimately come out to be slightly more or slightly less, and that NYPL hasn't even begun to dive into films, music, or other types of creative works. But these early findings could help lawmakers craft copyright policies from an evidence-based standpoint that wasn't easily accessible in the past.
"Folks need to understand that this data is really important to the record of American creativity," he added. "It is the history of American creativity. To some extent, it is a great record of American creativity, and I think that the data should be usable not just by us, by the libraries, but by everyone. I think it belongs to the people and is the people's data."
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It seems unlikely Trump will build a presidential library
Some good insights into Presidential libraries. It definitely corrected and informed me as I assumed they were part of a natonal program, rather than something done individually before being donated to the government. It also highlights the obstacles building one is likely to face, things we know Trump is not good at dealing with. It's most likely that someone else builds one under Trump's branding as some sort of licensing endeavor.
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